Abstract
Notes on Mk 4: 1-20
The “Parable of the Sower” is notorious for the problems it offers, problems which invite endless discussion among the New Testament students. It is generally understood that we can trace stages of compilation in vv 2b-20, which roughly consist of three clusters of tradition, namely 3-8, 11-12, 14-20. What was the order of compilation? Linguistic observations and historical as well as theological explanations lead to no one accepted interpretation, microscopic and incisive though they all are.
The writer tries in this opusculum to point out that:
(1) there seems to be no inherent necessity for connecting v. 10 to v.13.
(2) the question (erotan) of v. 10 could just as naturally be answered by vv 11-12 as by vv 14-20
(3) it is just as plausible to call vv 11-12 dominical as to ascribe it to “Verstockungstheorie.”
If the drift of opinion favours the hellenistic background of vv 14-20, the wrinter is inclined rather to emphasize the Jerusalemite origin of vv 10-12.